COURTLAND
The Southampton County Board of Supervisors approved a measure at its December meeting authorizing Sheriff Jack “J.B.” Stutts to trade in 65 confiscated or seized firearms for an in-store discount toward the purchase of new service weapons for the department.

“There are two sources of places that the weapons came from,” county administrator Mike Johnson said. “Many of them were seized in commission of crimes — once the case is dispensed with and the weapons is no longer evidence, then it’s simply a surplus weapon.

“Some of the other firearms are actually the firearms issued to jail staff. They’ve become old and outdated and the sheriff wants to replace those.”

The Code of Virginia, Section 15.2-951, broadly allows localities to sell and otherwise dispose of surplus material and personal property by public sale or auction for the purpose of exercising their powers and duties.

“Some of [the deputies] are still using revolvers, and the sheriff would like to upgrade them to semiautomatic [weapons],” Supervisor Bruce Phillips said.